Barcelona’s last five presidents have united to form a front against what they perceive to be ‘incessant attacks and slander’ against the club.
Traditionally Barcelona has been a highly political club, with splits and alliances dictating polarised stances and even decisions about the day-to-day running of the football team.
However an official statement put out by Barcelona detailed that Joan Gaspart, Enric Reyna, Joan Laporta, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu shared dinner on Tuesday night, and agreed to join forces to hit back against attacks on the club that they claim have intensified of late.
In particular, they are no doubt referring to the Negreira case. They claim accusations made against the club of bribery and sporting corruption are baseless, but the last three presidents and the club are under investigation.
Last week Laporta claimed that ‘sociological Madridismo’ was in play in the media, courts, politics and generally in the halls of power, aimed at bringing down Barcelona.
Until the court resolves the Negreira case, it will be impossible to tell exactly what went on, but they have not denied that these payments were made to Negreira, rather they say that they were for a consultancy role and reports on referees. Regardless of whether they are innocent or not, it seems more than justified to at the very least investigate the matter, as they would no doubt demand of rivals Real Madrid if the roles were reversed.
Full statement:
FC Barcelona hereby announces that yesterday evening, the its last five presidents, Joan Laporta, Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell, Enric Reyna and Joan Gaspart, had an informal dinner together in order to consolidate and settle a unified position against the attacks and slander that have been attempting to unsettle life at the club, and which have intensified of late.
Current president Joan Laporta accepted the proposition made by Joan Gaspart at last Saturday’s General Assembly of Delegate Members, as a means to consolidate an unbreakable stance and forge cohesion among the club’s membership.
Over dinner, the five gentlemen analysed the current situation at FC Barcelona and reached a consensus on certain issues, the overarching aim being to support the club’s best interests, especially with regard to affairs related to the incessant attacks on FC Barcelona throughout its history, and most especially of all in recent times.
